Just a note on the mean ferret sindrome.  My second ferret (who I had
for four years, she developed severe epilepsy and was put down after six
months of seisures), was a stray who bit like the devil.  She hated to
be held and was afraid of *everything* for about a year.  I had gotten
Anais as a kit about a month before I found Butthead (okay, fine, maybe
it wasn't the nicest of names!).  Anais should be familiar to you all as
the 7 year old ferret who is going blind & showing other signs of aging.
Butthead was so afraid of people that she once sprayed me for picking
her up quickly!
 
She earned her name well, she bit, stole *everything* she could get her
little teeth into and **BIT** so hard you couldn't get her off your
finger/toe/ankle until she was ready to release.  I had found her
wandering around campus in Wisconsin, so I don't know her origins.  She
had aplastic anemia and a serious vulvar infection from an apparent
extended heat when I caught her.
 
The good news is, she mellowed slowly over the years, slowly enjoying
being held, developing a strong relationship with Anais, greeting me
when I came home (they always had at least one room to roam, later they
got full apartment privledges), and yes, even playing with me.  Okay, so
in the early years she ate two sweaters (more than half of each), got
in between two walls and wouldn't come out for 36 + hours (we nearly had
to knock a hole in the wall), got into a radiator which had to be taken
apart, and generally was a pain in the ass (thus the name).
 
She was so tame by the fourth year that she would come to me and put her
little wet nose on me when she had seizures and wait for me to pick her
up.  I think this was the saddest ferret thing I've ever seen, Butthead,
standing there at night, waiting for me to wake up.  Phenobarbitol made
the seizures less severe, but eventually they progressed & she had to be
put down.  We did not go for exploratory surgery, she weighed about 3/4
of a pound, and was showing other signs of aging & decided against the
surgery.  Anyways, as you all know Anais has a new friend now, another
rescued ferret, & we hope they each live long happy little weasel
lives.
 
[Posted in FML issue 0428]